Solitude
by Hideki Kinomoto
Summary: Praised for their acts of heroism time and again, ex-AVALANCHE is forced the responsibility of directing Gaia's future. But will the past allow them to succeed when the bonds of friendship fray?
1. Nightmares

A/N: Obvious disclaimers first and foremost! Final Fantasy VII, its characters, and past references situations belong solely to Square-Enix. However, their brilliant characters and amazing development have graced me with the ideas for this fanfiction. I do hope you enjoy! Feel free to critique. _Please_ do R&R, its much appreciated!

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"_Cloud Strife, Tifa Lockheart, Barret Wallace, Vincent Valentine, Cid Highwind, Yuffie Kisaragi, and Nanaki. The WRO, no…the world as an entirety would like to present to you, for you feats of unfathomable courage, a Medal of Divine Heroism."_

_Commissioner Tuesti stood before the seven heroes, dawning around each of their necks a brilliant golden medal depicting a symbol the world had come to know very well, a falling Meteor. All around them people cheered, people cried, and people gave them the greatest of praise. Meteor was over, Geostigma and the remnants had their lingering problems, and the OMEGA crisis had been diverted. Labeled the forerunners of Gaia's new future, former-AVALANCHE was to become the world's greatest hope in global restoration and betterment. _

_Upon each of their faces was a look of unease, most notably on Cloud's face, his usual grimace when he felt he didn't deserve praise. Yuffie on the other hand was the complete opposite. Jumping up and down, flashing the crowd a peace sign here and there and beaming a smile to all. Everyone else allowed a semblance of a smile to ride across their lips._

"_However, that isn't merely all we have for you guys. I, Reeve Tuesti, wish to commit to a new WRO tradition to foster greater hope for a future. To inspire all to answer the call of these brave souls, to aid them and guide them when help seems to be everywhere but no where all at once..."_

_Behind Reeve, a man approached with a very decorative long sword, fully sheathed and handed it him. Unsheathing the long sword, he turned to the former AVALANCHE members._

"_To your knees, heroes. I'll be knighting you." A wide grin replaced his stoic expression._

_As if Cloud hadn't looked uneasy enough, now he shot glances to each of them. It was apparent none of them truly felt any of this was necessary. It just seemed so flashy, far too flashy. But that wasn't what worried them the most, it was the strings. With each commitment Commissioner Tuesti bestowed them; they knew the world would count on them fully to represent these appointed issues. It was hope and hope alone that even allowed them to trudge on. Knowing they would be bringing happiness to a world plagued by nightmares of the past._

_Following Yuffie's lead, each of them dropped to a knee and received their knighting. Cloud was first, during which he closed his eyes and even as the last was knighted, his eyes remained closed. Perhaps this was a bit much for him already._

"_Rise, Knights of the New Order, from this day forth you shall carry Gaia to the future and beyond. You are the peoples hope."_

_**----------- **_

**CHAPTER ONE: Nightmares**

"Any sign?"

Cloud was flush against a very tattered wall talking into a small microphone linked to an earpiece, readying to spring around the walls edge, hand on First Tsurugi's hilt.

"No sign so far on the first floor. Do you think maybe its hiding in the basement?"

Tifa and Cloud were in a place they would rather not have ever had to return. Not just being in Nibelheim, but being within the Shinra Mansion. For a month now mysterious deaths had plagued the area, people spoke of a "Crimson Terror" sucking their loved ones into the shadowy night itself, never to return.

Cid was stationed in the region of Nibelheim, because of its extreme closeness to Rocket Town. This particular mission didn't settle well with him, however. Rambling something about "_Who gives a crap to hunt down a fucking boogieman!? Gimme a man's job!". _Most had interpreted it as him just being too scared to approach the mansion. Cloud certainly wasn't one to blame him…

"I'm en route to the stairwell leading down to the research lab; you stay on the first floor. I'm going radio silence; only speak if you spot it…"

"M'k, Cloud."

Cloud gulped ever slightly, the thought of going back down where he was stored away in a tube for four years wasn't high on his "To-Do List". Finally in the second floor bedroom with the secret passage, he knocked on brick a couple of times until the dusty old passage door slid opened. It wasn't the stink of stagnant air that caused his nose to wrinkle, but the familiar smell of blood. With a heavy sigh, he began trudging down the rickety and spiraling staircase. He knew each step gave him away, but if there was a beast down here devouring people, it certainly wasn't going to run away from a squeaking board.

Once off the spiraling staircase he no longer felt it safe to not have his blade drawn. Everything seemed just as it always had been. Reaching behind him, he slowly slid First Tsurugi free of his back sheaths, keeping it at the ready as he slowly plunged himself deeper into the caves dark confides.

"Tifa, the air down here…it's heavy with blood. I'm investigating further. Standby…"

"For the record, I _hate_ this splitting up thing." Tifa grumbled in retort.

The darkness would be a challenge for most to see in, but due to his Mako infused body he found excellent night vision was one of many perks. Midway through the tunnel, his gaze fell on the doorway where Vincent once slept, sealed away in his coffin and drowning himself in his regrets over Lucrecia. The memory felt so fresh, but a fresh memory was far less important than the smell of fresh blood.

Slowly, he approached the doorway, figuring it was good a place as any to start. Taking in a quick, yet deep breath, he gave the doorway a very steady ram with his shoulder. The door nearly flew from its hinges at the force of his strike, the back of the door slamming against the wall. This room was ridiculously organized considering how it looked when they first met Vincent years ago.

In the center of the room rested a single, very fresh looking coffin. Standing along the walls were other less stellar (_as far as coffins go_) looking ones forming a staggered circle. The one thing that concerned him the most was that the room smelled more strongly of blood than when he left the stairwell; somewhere in this room was its source. In a swift motion of his tongue, Cloud attempted to wet his lips, only to find his mouth had gone complete dry with anxiety. Cautiously he approached the center coffin, keeping one hand tightly on First Tsurugi's hilt; he reached out to remove the lid.

"You'll find nothing there, Cloud."

There it was, Cloud's first heart-attack and he wasn't even thirty. He would have spun around and stood in full defense if he hadn't recognized the gruff voice of Vincent. Turning to look to him, he felt a bit more relaxed already. Maybe he should have brought Tifa down here with him; it was certainly less frightening with some backup. For his sake, he would never admit that to her.

"You startled me. Did Reeve send you to assist?"

"Mm, no…so what's the story?" His response was thoughtful sounding, yet laced with his patented lack of caring.

"The townspeople keep talking about some _Crimson Terror _killing people at night. Long story short, Reeve sent Tifa and I to investigate."

"Where might she be, at the moment?"

"Tifa? She's searching the…"

Cloud stopped short, his eyes suspiciously studying Vincent who was walking slow circles around him as he spoke, and a single gloved hand slid along each outer wall coffin as he walked. There was something unsettling about Vincent at the moment and that was saying _a lot_, as in general he was a pretty unsettling guy.

"The first floor?" Vincent finished for him.

"Why are you here anyway, Vincent? If Reeve didn't send you and you don't know why Tifa and I are here…"

That feeling Cloud had of being alone with something dangerous around him, it definitely had returned. Vincent wasn't giving off the "safe" vibe anymore, something malevolent stirred in his wake. Finally he stopped pacing and tapped his fingertips rhythmically atop an outer coffin.

"I don't want this to come to blood, Cloud. You should leave and let me deal with this town as I see fit."

"Are you saying you're…the Crimson Terror? This is a joke, right?"

"No one's laughing, are they Cloud?"

Vincent was right, no one was laughing, but Cloud wished one of them was. Those blood red eyes of his stared with an intensity that Cloud hadn't seen since Sephiroth, it was a stare that made his blood boil to see on the face of his friend. In a swift motion, Cloud stood ready to attack, his eyes holding a valiant determination to counter Vincent's discomforting realization.

"Why? It doesn't make sense. We saved the world, every time there was a problem. We don't do this villain thing…we're heroes, Vincent."

"Please, spare me this dream of yours."

Clouds brows furrowed, eyes narrowing into a glare he didn't want to have to put on for Vincent. Amidst all his confusion with this situation, he was genuinely hurt at even the thought of what was about to be said.

"Puppets, Cloud. You and I know the feeling better than most. We were once puppets of Shinra, now in this "new world" full of all its _hope_ and bullshit _dreams_; we are puppets to the WRO."

"No!"

"Don't ignore the words just because you don't wish to hear them. We were given this fate without a worry about what we wished, any want of normalcy our lives may have eventually found. They ended that day."

"Why…why didn't you just say something to us?" Clouds voice was strained, stuck somewhere between angry and hurt.

"My ideas wouldn't have scathed any of your minds. It was always for the peoples hope. AVALANCHE is where that all began; we've just taken shop under a different name and parade around as Knight's. Pathetic…"

"Pathetic? You believe the peoples hopes are nothing but pathetic? When did you…"

"Go wrong? Never have been wrong, never will be."

Disbelief splashed across Clouds face, finding it impossible that Vincent could believe anything he was thinking right now was a form of justice that the world deserved. His next words were growls through clenched teeth.

"You're out of your mind, Vincent."

"So, you're content with rescuing animals from sewers, working at homeless shelters, doing our monthly _Speeches of Hope_ to update the world on our progress, with doing these mundane tasks while Jenova cells devour the planet from the inside out and rest inactive in each of our bodies?"

"Jenova cells…"

Cloud was speechless. Vincent had brought up one major point the WRO didn't seem to be working on. From the lifestream, shadow entities had continued to create themselves due to the dark lifestream; contaminated lifestream deeply enriched with Jenova cells. But this alone didn't justify Vincent's decision to go rogue.

"It doesn't matter Vincent, there still isn't any point to this."

"The collective conscious thought that is the lifestream, each day that passes it recalls its greatest threats and rebirths them from the dark lifestream. Inadvertently, but still, rebirths them. If it weren't for that, the Jenova cells would never fully leave the lifestream, correct? But wait. We have inactive Jenova cells in our body."

"Which return to the lifestream when we die…" Cloud finished; his vision distant with thought again and voice a hushed whisper.

"It's a vicious cycle. We may have won the battle, but Jenova is winning the war."

Tifa's voice piped into Clouds ear as Vincent spoke, but his thoughts were too far gone for him to report back. Nothing had been said so far that made him understand why Vincent was killing people in Nibelheim, but everything else was making sense. That's what he would just have to fish for, for now. After that was answered, then he would see where he stood with the situation.

"We'll have to focus on the bigger picture, I agree Vincent. But explain how killing people here ties into your worries regarding the dark lifestream?"

"Futility."

A puzzling look was replaced by Cloud's once thoughtfulness. In that one word, Vincent acted as though he was to understand some greater cause, to find justification in that simple word.

"It's far too late for the planet to receive assistance. After Sephiroth merged with the lifestream and we killed him, the end began. In this basement I hoped to find greater knowledge of how to bring an end to things sooner, instead of killing people quietly one by one until the towns empty. I want a surge of Jenova cells to flood into the lifestream." With little hesitation, he tenderly smirked. "Instead of a slow, painful, death…I would give Gaia mercy."

"You want…to end the world? This place, Vincent, it doesn't hold answers, just nightmares. Trust me; they will eat away everything good in you…"

"No, Hojo saw to it that Jenova ate away everything good in me, and this world's ignorance fed my hatred. Join me, Cloud. I know you have to understand deep down…"

"What are you going to tell the people who look to you as a hero, to those who see you as hope and extend a hand for help? Vincent, don't succumb to madness…"

"I…" Then he paused. "I will turn my back on them. They will ask for help, arms waving from their Jenova cell infested bodies waiting to corrupt the lifestream, waving for my help. I'll look them right in the eye and tell them…_No._"

With a delicate sigh, Vincent gave the coffin his hand had been resting on a shove. The lid slid from its wooden lodging and landed loudly to the cobblestone beneath their feet. Within the coffin was a peaceful looking corpse, a single bloodied dot between the eyes. As if everything Vincent said wasn't enough to bring Cloud to arms, seeing this senseless outcome of a pointblank execution was plenty.

Lunging forward, Cloud took a quick slash at Vincent, who leapt to the side and fired a quick round of shots. Reaching to a side blade, Cloud swung it and First Tsurugi to deflect the incoming bullet barrage. In his ear he heard Tifa shouting _"Cloud, was that gunshots? Wha-What's going on down in there?! Please report!"._

Vincent was beyond an able fighter and knew Cloud's moves inside and out. But the same went for Cloud; they had simply been around each other too much to wield any surprises. Something was wrong though, he was so much faster than Cloud remembered. All the swinging of his blade, the misses from both of their attacks, eventually lead to Vincent standing at the doorway. Behind him a very startled gasp rang out and a smirk played upon his pale lips.

"Tifa, restrain him!"

Before she could even hope to grab Vincent, let alone understand why Cloud had told her to grab their friend, he had flipped behind Tifa and kicked her into the room with Cloud. Stumbling into Cloud a bit, she turned herself about just in time to see a blur of red cape disappear to the right, followed by the sound of a few rickety and rotten stairway boards. They both knew he was too fast to catch now, but Tifa knew it wasn't too late to get some answers.

"Care to explain what _that_ was all about?" Uncertain emotion played at her face, the exact face Cloud made when he first thought Vincent might have become an enemy.

Cloud was too busy to answer her at the moment, he'd already put his swords back in their sheaths and had his phone to his free ear.

"Reeve, call the Knight's up, we need to have an emergency meeting."

Cloud stared Tifa in the eyes as he spoke, and without any need of explanation, she knew. Slowly, her eyes trailed to the ground and as Tifa did when she worried, she bit at her bottom lip, only pulled back to reality by Cloud clicking his phone closed. Making Tifa worry was never something he could stomach well, but it seemed it was something out of his control.

"Let's go, Tifa…"


	2. Imprisoned

A/N: Thanks for the review, Dagreatonion. So far, I'm happy with the idea's I've had and have been having with this little story. Everyone, do enjoy my second chapter and do remember to please **Read and Review**, its much appreciated and greatly helps me learn what good or bad ideas I might have created.

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_Finally the ceremony was over. Vincent, Yuffie and Nanaki departed shortly after, before everyone else headed for Seventh Heaven. Barret was eager to get back to the bar so he could have some time to talk to Marlene, even if all he could was watch her sleep. All his time out in the oil fields didn't allow him the time he wished he had to stay with her. But Cloud and Tifa were perfectly capable of taking care of her in his absence. Denzel helped the situation, giving Marlene a friend she always knew would be around, even when Cloud and Tifa were overwhelmed with issues with the bar and the delivery service._

_Cid stuck around for a change, usually departing soon as he could to get back to Shera. The ceremony had went on till sometime early in the morning, so he figured he'd stick around while Shera did who knows what back in Rocket Town. Everyone sat in silence. Tifa and Cloud took seats at the bar, Cid took a booth and stretched himself out to take up an entire side, after a few moments watching Marlene rest soundly Barret finally came down._

"_This ain't no celebration, ya dumbasses! More like a morgue…"_

"_Barret…" Tifa sighed, shooting him a stern glance._

"_He ain't lyin' though, for us all getting knighted the moods thicker than Chocobo shit."_

"_So…everyone's happy with this then?"_

_Everyone eyed Cloud, his voice being a perfect audio of just how the mood felt. It wasn't a question any of them could answer quickly, even if they could have smiled eye to eye at Reeve and said yes. For some reason when Cloud asked, it really made them think._

"_Shit, Spiky. What's not to be happy about exactly…?" Barret chose to ignore the answer that floated to his own mind._

"_Everything rest on us. Hopes, dreams, the future. We're no longer just along for the ride…"_

"_We're expected to _**be**_ the future." Tifa finished, filling in Cloud's hesitation, eyeing him thoughtfully._

_Cloud gave a soft nod of his head, finally looking up from his glass of Corel wine, having felt he'd thoroughly stared a hole into it. Eyes glowing with brilliant Mako looked from face to face, beginning with Cid and ending with Tifa. No ones eyes actually met his; everyone had finally ignored the feel good vibe the mission gave them. _

"_It may already be too late for us to even think about it, not that we were given a chance to process anything."And back he went to eyeing that glass of wine._

"_This…is the world we're talking about. Being selfish, it's a luxury we can't afford ourselves. There may be a lot on our shoulders." Tifa looked from Cloud, to Barret, to the cranky looking Cid. "But we're a team and we'll always be there for each other, right?"_

_Barret nodded and a wide grin spread across his face, it was all he had to hear. Cid slammed his fist to the table and then quickly gave a hoot of joy, applauding. That tender and shy remnant Cloud called a smile tugged at the corner of his lips, even as he spoke._

"_Always."_

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**CHAPTER TWO: Imprisoned**

"Yo…seriously, it's the middle of the night, Reeve. This had better be one helluva damn good reason…my ass been out on the oil field for the past three days straight!"

Snorting out of his nose, Barret hung up his cell and sat for a moment at the side of his bed, rubbing his left hand across his face and trying to stifle a yawn. For a long moment he simply stared at the ground, thinking of all the lovely rest he was missing out on.

"Hurry and get ready, Reeve sounded like it was important."

On pure instinct Barret's hand flew from his face and braced the top of his right forearm, his gun arm prosthesis aiming at his darkened bedroom doorway. Even knowing the voice, he couldn't help but get ready to open fire.

"Damn it Spiky, what in the hell you doin' here?"

With tender steps, Cloud's form slowly left the shadows and stepped into the moonlight, giving Barret a quirked brow of caution. Leaning to the side, Barret attempted to look past him, expecting to see Tifa somewhere nearby. Even he knew that they were both sent to Nibelheim for their mission tonight. Instead of answering his question, Cloud stood there staring at him.

"You're givin' me the creeps, aight man. Did Tifa already head back to Edge? You guys didn't leave Marlene alone, did ya?"

"Tifa headed back early for Marlene and Denzel, I was able to handle Nibelheim alone. Did Reeve mention to you what the meeting was about?"

"Shit, you should know. You're the one that called his ass and…"

Barret halted his words, only realizing what he said while he was saying instead of while he thought it. If Cloud put in the call from Nibelheim and Reeve had called him, there wasn't a chance Cloud could have already forgotten, let alone made it to the oil site outside of Rocket Town. But there he was, it had to be him. Barret wasn't dreaming, he knew that much.

"Barret, do you think we're ignoring the big picture, you know, regarding restoring the world?"

Cloud slowly walked from the doorway and over to the window, basking completely within the moonlight. This gave him a more pale appearance than usual.

"We're doing the best we can…we're all takin' steps towards a better world. Free of those damned Shinra jackasses. You know that."

"You…really believe it all ended with the death of Sephiroth, the fall of Shinra?"

"We had hard times since then. Geostigma was some shit…and all the Deepground business. Our world is far from perfect 'n all. Get to the point, aight?"

"Sephiroth died. Jenova cell's entered the lifestream, corrupting it. The lifestream that erupted from the planet to dissolve Meteor held infused Jenova cells, and began infecting the world with Geostigma…"

"Same shit, different day…I said get to the point." Whatever Cloud was saying, Barret was losing his patience with.

"It's an endless cycle Barret. We die, inactive Jenova cells are forced back into the lifestream. Day by day, death by death, the world crawls towards a slow end."

Finally, understanding riddled his expression. It was something that had only briskly been brought up in various WRO meetings, but it was labeled as a topic with little factual backing. Hypotheses had sprung up since even the death of Sephiroth, but nothing could be fully scientifically proven. Though Geostigma and the remnants of Sephiroth were proof Jenova's consciousness and her cells had infected the origins of the planets life. It was all the proof _they_ needed, but the WRO still needed more than just a "hunch", as they called it.

"You tellin' me you found a way to prove it the WRO? We finally gonna get to the meat and damned potatoes of the problems, Spiky?"

"Vincent told me it's too late to fix. That it was futile."

"Wh-what? Guy sure knows how to shit on hope, doesn't he? Guess he's a got good argument as to why it's futile, huh?"

"He did find another answer." Cloud hesitated before he continued, an idea coming to mind. "Dyne said it best, all that time ago at Corel Prison, you remember that right? "_Destroy everything." _I believe that was it."

Standing up, he tensed his muscles as best he could, trying not to punch Cloud's clock completely out then and there. His jaw clenched and unclenched several times before he finally managed to voice his thoughts.

"You know not to bring up Dyne and you sure as hell better not bring up what he told me back then…you best explain yourself, peacock."

"It can't be reversed, the planet will die slowly. We…yes, we have to cause a big enough surge of the Jenova Cells, so the lifestream is purged into darkness. Gaia deserves mercy after all we've done. You agree, right Barret?"

Cloud turned to look to Barret, his eyes appearing empty and lacking their usual glow. Instead of wearing his stoic expression, he was sporting a very lively smirk, as though his words truly amused him.

"Barret, the world needs to be saved…"

"We been through a lot, Spiky. But if that's your plan, you can go to hell…"

_**----------- **_

"Vincent, don't take our trust for granted…"

"We saw you in the Shinra Mansion. You fired at Cloud."

"I have _never_ given you reason to believe I would betray a single one of you…"

"I was talking to him most of the night, asking him how everything was going in Kalm! You two are _way_ too worked up, chillax!"

Yuffie couldn't stand watching them fight it out with each other. It was like watching rabid carnivores tear at each others throats. Neither side budged with their stories; even she was careful what she said unless it was pure fact. What surprised her most was that Vincent wasn't losing his patience, least not yet.

"As much as it pain's me to say, that's what I've been doing most of the evening…"

"This doesn't…make any sense."

Cloud shook his head, wondering if somehow he had hallucinated Vincent in the mansion. Tifa saw him too, though. There was no denying they had seen him.

"Is it safe to come in now…?" muttered Nanaki, shooting confused glances between his friends.

"We're sorry, Nanaki. There's just a lot that's not making sense right now. Please come in." Tifa smiled as best and apologetic as she could.

Reeve had his fingertips buried in his hair, sliding his hands to the back of his head and staring down at the report Cloud made while they flew back to Edge from Nibelheim. By all indications Vincent shouldn't be standing before them now, least not bearing the story he had.

"Did you call Barret, Reeve? He and Cid are all we're…"

"I'm here, I'm here…don't get your silky panties in a wad."

Cid entered, grumbling and piping cigarette smoke from his mouth with each word he uttered. Tossing the quickly dying butt in an ashtray near the door, he wandered to a seat and made himself at home. Everyone followed suit, with the exclusion of Nanaki. Chairs were really beyond his area of sitting expertise.

Reeve read Cloud's report, verifying he'd fill Barret in when he arrived. It didn't pass his mind to mention to the lot of them that Barret was worn out when Reeve called him. It was assumed for the moment he was drooling on a pillow, dreaming of black gold. As Reeve finished his report, all eyes once again fell on Vincent who glowered at them, shocked they felt he'd betray them.

"Well, g'damn son! You gonna turn Cerberus on us, I'll ram the Shera clean up your ass like a coffin nail."

"Seriously old man, give him a chance to defend himself! Besides if you'd been here on time instead of waltzing in like someone cast a damn Stop spell on you, you'd have known I mentioned I was talking to Vincent all night, **gawd**!"

Yuffie slammed her open palms heavy to the round table, letting a heavy sigh huff barely through her clenched teeth.

"Calm down, Yuffie. They for some reason believe I would betray their trust." Glancing between each of them, Vincent stifled his own heavy sigh. "If I must prove myself, I will. Commissioner Tuesti, I request you confine me."

"Vincent…" Yuffie whispered, disbelief thick in her tone.

"It…would probably be best."

All eyes turned to Cloud, minus Vincent. He already knew what Cloud was going to say, that he was going to agree to the idea for the safety of the team. He wouldn't have proposed the idea if he didn't also feel it was for the better, even though he knew he was innocent.

"Until we figure out what is going on, Vincent must be detained. But…please don't take it personal." Cloud finished, knowing it was perhaps an impossible request to make.

Vincent said nothing; he merely turned to Reeve and nodded. With the press of a button, several armed soldiers enter the room and were ordered to escort Vincent to a "special cell", but offered no explanation as to why it was considered special. The same silence that riddled the room before Reeve read the report had begun to haunt the room once more. Everyone felt guilty, especially Cloud and Tifa.

"I'll try to call Barret again…"

Tifa cracked the silence of the room, seeming to bring everyone else back to reality, back out of their own thoughts. Cloud leaned back in his chair, releasing a soft sigh and searching the ceiling as if it held some sort of answers. Nothing was making sense at the moment and more bad news was on the way.

"Barret didn't answer. It might be too early to jump to conclusions, but…"

"Our best guess now is that…maybe Vincent got him after he left us. It's better we play caution right now. "

"I **told** you guys!" Yuffie roared, glaring at Cloud.

"We know what we saw, Yuffie. Just…please."

Tifa looked more upset at the thought than Yuffie had presumed. Seeing this, she finally conceded to giving up for the moment, but she wasn't about to just leave Vincent to be stowed away a convict when she knew he wasn't. There was a time to fight the groups choice, but that time wasn't now.

"This isn't the time to sit on your asses, kids. I got the Shera parked outside!"

"This meeting of the Round is convened, dismissed."

Reeve made his order, yet even after they had left he sat in the room, still in disbelief that Vincent would do anything like the report said. Was it right of him to trust Tifa and Cloud over Vincent? Gritting his teeth he tried to shake off the thought, there was plenty of trust issues in the WRO as it was.

As they marched toward the Shera, Cloud felt Tifa's gaze literally piercing into his side. Turning to look to her, he read the question in her eyes. There was more than one, and even more than questions there were concerns that he wished he could make go away. For now he would do what he could, for her, for himself and for the team. He would be strong.

"Let's go find Barret."


	3. Distance

A/N: Back from vacation and having spent all day watching Advent Children Complete, I finally decided to pop up Chapter 3! Yay for everybody, ya? At any rate, thanks to all who have read. Please to the 99th level, **read and review**, lol. Do enjoy the third chapter. Critique's completely welcome.

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"_It's like we never get to see you two anymore. I don't like the 'normal' being Denzel and I having to be by ourselves…"_

_They knew it was bound to happen. With all the responsibilities Cloud and Tifa weren't able to be around at Seventh Heaven nearly as often as before. In fact, since they'd began working for the WRO, both the bar and Cloud's delivery job had been all but forgotten._

_Each time they had to leave Marlene would gain a distant stare, you could tell she was fighting hard to keep from saying what she felt. Denzel would furrow his brow, but as he was always seeking to act more "adult", he would nod and accept things for how they were, presenting a perfect surface image of happiness. It became apparent in this moment that once they left, Denzel and Marlene would discuss how it truly made them feel, and it was quite the contrary to their actions._

"_We both understand what you're doing is important. Just…please don't forget that we're important too."_

_Cloud's eyes pinched shut tightly; it hurt him to realize he was letting down the kids. Seeing that expression on Denzel's face, of frustration and pain, reminded him of how he looked when he first found him near Aerith's church years ago. Though that anguish was born from Geostigma, knowing he was causing it now made it much worse. Tifa looked like she was on the verge of tears, having shot Cloud a glance that seemed to say "_I told you so."_, making it clear this outcome had been something she had at least mentioned._

"_We could never forget how important the two of you are to us. It's impossible to forget the two kids that bring out the best in us adults."_

"_Cloud's right, kids. If it weren't for you two, we wouldn't be able to find our strength to make tomorrow a better day for everyone. More importantly, a better future for you two."_

_Slowly, Tifa leaned to her side. Cloud had been standing beside her since the moment Marlene began to let it all out, a hand at the small of her back to let her know he was there. Bracing herself against Cloud, she glanced up and met his gaze briefly before he turned his attention back to Marlene and Denzel with a tender smile etched across his lips._

_Both children walked to Cloud and Tifa, wrapping their arms tightly around whoever they got to first, but no one was left out. Soon, all four were hugging each other in a tight circle. Not as just four people seeking to gain strength from one another, but as a family. _

_"So, this means you're taking the day off, _right_?" Marlene smiled her biggest smile, looking up at Cloud and Tifa with eyes full of happy tears._

_**----------- **_

**CHAPTER THREE: Distance**

"I'm not going."

A chilly early morning breeze had greeted them as they walked across the landing strip towards the Shera, but Yuffie had stopped the team dead in their tracks. Tifa already understood, to some extent, why she would make this decision. Cid and Nanaki halted their advance for all of two seconds before deeming her reasons none of their concerns. However Cloud was the only one to address her. It began with him eyeing the ground in front of him, his back turned to her. With a sigh he found the courage to turn around and look her in the eyes, knowing full well just how much more guilt he'd be subjected to.

"I know this is tough, not just for you…but for everyone. None of you have to follow the path I choose, so know I understand, Yuffie."

Her mouth opened as though to toss out a quick retort, but was instead turned into a sharp gasp of air. There was little she could say when he was being so reasonable, so she'd just have to leave it that. It was also very difficult for her to be entirely upset with him when he gave her a look like that, one that let her know he was fully aware of the guilt and stress of the situation.

Attempting to glare at the two of them, she pivoted on a heel and ran off in the opposite direction before any other words could be exchanged. Both Cloud and Tifa stared at her as she ran off, feeling fairly similar to one another at the moment. Why did they have to jump to the conclusion that their own friend had betrayed them, surely there _had_ to be another answer?

"Cloud…" Tifa broke the silence with a faint whisper.

"I know, let's go."

***

There was too much to think about in all the deafening silence. From wall to wall, his little cube of privacy reigned over him. The room was much different than the holding cells he passed; they even had numbers on the doors from one through seven. As they passed each numbered room, he couldn't help but notice that they were all vacant. So why pass so many empty rooms, so many normal rooms, just to conceal him in the fifth chamber? To most, this would be a detail easily overlooked, or even thought more than redundant.

Just when it seemed he was growing more accustomed to the solitude of his prison, an all too familiar and grating voice interrupted. Even through the thick steel of the windowless door, her voice was perhaps the only thing in the world Vincent hated more than Hojo, least the thought of him.

"_Vincent! _Can you hear me through this stupid thing?"

"Regrettably…"

"No time for compliments, I'm gonna get'cha outta there."

"Yuffie, don't be stupid."

Delicately, he quirked a brow and wondered just why she was so eager to break him out of his cell. Standing to his feet, he wandered over near the door and rested with his back to it, arms crossed over his chest.

"Why didn't you go with the others?"

"I…I wanted to, they told me to hang back as they didn't need everyone to go along."

She was lying. Vincent felt the tender tug of a smirk pull at his lip. For all the annoyance she brought him, the fact that she believed him over Cloud and Tifa was reassuring to his sanity. He would have stayed lost in his thoughts if not for the growl of grumbled curse words and sounds of exasperation that interrupted him.

"I told you not to be stupid. This cell is special, along with six others down this hall."

"So now ya tell me! What makes them so special anyway?"

In defeat, Yuffie turned her back to the opposite side of the door and slid down the surface, taking a seat and pulling her knee's to her chest.

"Don't quote me on this; I believe they were designed to hold seven people in particular, but more importantly, to hold_ us_."

"You mean the _Knights_? Pff, why would they make special cells to hold us?"

"You're being stupid again, Yuffie. Obviously we're not normal; a typical holding cell wouldn't last long against any one of us. Same as me having to deal with you, such measures are regrettably necessary for global safety."

"But we're the good guys! They should know they can trust us…"

"The world did that once already, I believe his name was Sephiroth."

Yuffie's mouth opened to voice a clever retort, but he had her there. The fact they had special chambers for each of them was proof that the world had learned a little something from their past mistakes. Depressingly, they learned a mistake from trusting a savior too much with the well-being of the world.

The two sat on their respective sides of the doors in silence for several minutes afterward. This was no small feat for Yuffie, as her usual chatterbox self was waiting to explode out of her. Though she was certain her newfound tolerance of silence was born from her many "conversations" with Vincent over the past while. Naturally, the silence brought Vincent unspeakable peace that he wasn't willing to shatter with words. Too bad things rarely went his way.

"They wanted me to go with them, but I chose not to…"

"I know." He sighed.

Suddenly, the silence of the prison hallway filled with sirens and warning lights flashed from above each cell. Yuffie sprang to her feet in complete surprise, feeling a rush of adrenaline pump through her system. Vincent sprang to attention in his cell, turning to glare at the doorway as though it would blow it away.

"_Security Squadrons A through C, meet in the central lobby. I repeat, Security Squadrons A through C, meet in the central lobby. Squadron D, please proceed to prison level 5._"

"Level 5, Vincent that's this hallway!"

"Get me out of here; I need to be able to help you."

"I…" grunting, she pulled at the doors outer lever, trying as best she could. "I can't get this damn lever to release. There are several padlocks along its side keeping it in place!"

"Then move yo ass aside, shrimp!"

"Barret?!" Yuffie gasped.

Vincent's brows furrowed instantly at the mention of Barret's name. Several questions poured through his mind in that single moment, a few of them he felt he knew the answer to quite well, but one he wanted to hear answered.

"You're the security breach, aren't you?"

"You're damned right I am, we gettin' our ass's outta here. Spiky done used up his last straw attackin' me. I'll explain everything else once we out, got it?"

Clenching his teeth and bracing a hand against his gun arm, he charged up a blast of energy from his rail cannon. Vincent knew what was coming next so he scooted flush against the side of a wall just in time for the door to fly past him in a blue blur, slamming heavily on the back wall yet standing perfectly there as though imbedded.

"This is a _really_ bad idea for the record you guys!" Yuffie's bottom lip looked at risk of being chewed off by this point.

"Surely you could have just talked to Reeve, Barret."

"The WRO can't be trusted, including Reeve."

Barret pivoted on a heel and began running towards the exit of the prison, both Yuffie and Vincent were hot on his trail. As they ran, Yuffie shot glances towards Vincent, of both worry and confusion.

"Fool tried to lock me up after I told him my piece. Didn't believe a damn word that came outta my mouth!"

"Seems we keep falling deeper down the rabbit hole…"

"Forget the rabbit hole! More like someone put too much _grease_ in the frying pan, because we just fell right into fire guys~!" Yuffie's voice ended on a shrill note.

As they rounded the corner to the prison levels exit, they were eye level to what appeared to be a firing squad. The dark black barrels of thirty machine guns glared down on them, followed by the click of several safeties turning off all at once.

***

"His scent wanders away to the airfield strip, I'm certain he survived the attack."

Nanaki looked from face to face, hoping that someone was reassured by his words. Tifa was staring at the ground, worrying that she was going to have give Marlene bad news once they got back to Seventh Heaven. Cid had his lance stabbed into ground, propped against it and putting out enough smoke to choke a Midgar Zolom. Cloud remained away from the group by roughly thirty feet, eyeing a few droplets of blood that had spattered on the porch leading from Barret's tattered room.

Standing to his feet he interrupted the silence with a grunt and a heavy punch to one of the porches wooden supports, shaking the structure with the force of the blow.

"Cloud…" Tifa saw it in his face that look he got when he failed to protect something he cherished. "It's not your fault, we couldn't have known."

"I know we all have a lot to atone for, for everything we did to this world. But…"

"Cough it out if ya got somethin' to say there, ain't got all night to hear your complaints." Cid barked, adequately filling the hesitant pause.

"But surely it can give us a break. Even…just one day…"

"Shinra didn't give it a break. Everyday it siphoned the lifestream from the planet; we already know that old song. Doesn't it only make sense that we don't have a break, Cloud?"

"That's not it Nanaki."

All eyes went to Tifa who was staring only at Cloud, her eyes glazed faintly with distant tears. Cloud's eyes were fixed on hers, a perplexed look at first, but then he remembered she was always good at hearing the silent voice of his heart.

"Ole Chocobo-head's just worried 'bout us, Red." Cid popped the cigarette from his mouth, dropping it to the ground and stomping it out. "Breath damned easy, we all got each others back, ya hear?"

Cloud's eyes began their slow decent to the ground, feeling himself lose himself in his mind further and further. Before he could distance himself from everything that was going on, least for the moment, his phone rang. The small screen on the front lit up, displaying the name "Reeve". Giving it a small nod, he figured Reeve was just checking in on the progress they'd made in finding Barret. With this assumption, he answered, prepared to give his indefinite news. Instead he was a greeted by a very out of breath Reeve.

"_C-Cloud…get back to WRO Headquarters, double time_!"

"What's going on Reeve?"

Cloud tried to conceal his concern, so as not to alarm the rest of the group. Holding up one finger to Cid, Tifa, and Nanaki, he turned around and walked into Barret's kitchen so he could focus on whatever bad news he was about to get.

"It's Barret. He came back with some wild story about you attacking him, starting shooting up the place." He took a pause to catch his breath and clear his throat. "I mentioned Vincent was locked up somewhere in there, he made a break for the prison levels and…Just get back here, a.s.a.p."

The phone went dead on the other end. Slowly, he pulled the phone from his ear, seeing the tiny _call ended_ message at the bottom of the screen. Flipping it closed, he stood there in silence for what felt like forever but barely lasted half a minute. With a heavy sigh, he trudged out of the kitchen and back to the rest of the group, trying to look as resolute as he could manage.

"Reeve found Barret; we're to report back to headquarters."

Everyone nodded to him without question and began walking towards the airstrip again. Tifa hung back and waited to walk with Cloud, shooting him a reassuring glance. He attempted to make very little eye contact, knowing he would give away the secret that he was hiding the truth of the matter if he let her get too close. For now, they knew all they needed to know.


End file.
